AFC - Coach Zlatko Dalic has emphasised the importance of maintaining concentration levels ahead of Al Ain’s AFC Champions League Group C clash with Tractorsazi Tabriz on Tuesday, after his side let slip a first-half lead against Al Ittihad in their 2-1 defeat last week.

The newly appointed Croatian coach got off to a difficult introduction to the continental competition when a brace from Al Ittihad’s Mukhtar Fallatah cancelled out Asamoah Gyan’s opener to hand the Emirati side a defeat after they had beaten Qatari outfit Lekhwiya 2-1 in their group opener.

And with the inaugural AFC Champions League winners facing group leaders Tractorsazi of Iran, who sit just a point above them in the standings, Dalic has exhorted his team to cut out the errors that cost them in the previous outing.

“The most important thing that we should do against Tractorsazi is to fix the mistakes that we made against Al Ittihad and improve the situation of the team. The players should be ready and they must concentrate in the match to get a positive result,” said Dalic.

“We lost concentration against Al Ittihad and we were punished. Therefore, we should be wary of the threat of our opponents who have good players and can cause a lot of problems for us in the match tomorrow.”

Al Ain midfielder Ahmed Barman will miss the match through suspension after receiving his second yellow card in the competition in the previous match, while Helal Saeed is back in contention after recovering from injury, although Ali Al Wehibi is still ruled out.

Tractorsazi, meanwhile, will welcome back Ali Karimi for their after the veteran playmaker sat out their Matchday Two stalemate against Lekhwiya following his dismissal in their campaign opener.

Karimi’s return, however, is offset by the suspensions of goalkeeper Hamed Lak and defender Mohammad Nosrati , who was sent-off against Lekhwiya.

“We are looking forward to winning the match or at least getting a draw. We have a difficult match against Al Ain and we know how dangerous the foreign players of our opponents are but we will try to defend our chances to qualify to the knockout stage,” said Tractorsazi coach Toni (António José Conceição Oliveira).

“Al Ain will put pressure on us looking to get an early advantage. However, I hope that our players can have good concentration in order to get a positive result and that everyone will enjoy an entertaining match.”